Seahawks make history.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

The first losing franchise to go to the playoffs. 

[Frimp]

How funny would it be if they advance?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

^^^ I will be rooting for them over the Saints next weekend. 

[Dave Gray]

It's pretty crazy that 2 teams in their conference had 3 more wins than they did.  That's substantial.  I think that this is an anomaly.  If it were to continue happening, the league would have to do something about it.  You can't have crap teams making the playoffs, while good teams miss out.

[BigDaddyFin]

the biggest waste of a playoff spot ever.  The only way this is a good thing is if it gets that asshole Pete Carroll one more step into the hall of shame.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

It's pretty crazy that 2 teams in their conference had 3 more wins than they did.  That's substantial.  I think that this is an anomaly.  If it were to continue happening, the league would have to do something about it.  You can't have crap teams making the playoffs, while good teams miss out.

I don't have problem with it.  Nor did I have a problem with the 8-8 Chargers hosting the 12-4 Colts (2nd best record in the NFL) while the 11-5 NEP sat it out (3 more wins than the Chargers)

Changing the system would make the divisional rivalries much less meaningful.  And the divisional rivalries are an important part of the fun.   

[fyo]

I'm with Hoodie on this. I was rooting for the Seahawks just for the shear fun of watching the talking heads explode, but the bottom line is that if you want DIVISIONS to stay meaningful, division winners should not only make the playoffs, they should host in the WC round.

Right now, teams are proud of division titles. Only one team wins the Super Bowl each year, so it's not a realistic expectation / goal for most teams. Winning your division, however, is.

[CF DolFan]

The only thing that bothers me about this is Pete. It really bothers me to se him accomplish anything. 

[Dave Gray]

I don't have problem with it.  Nor did I have a problem with the 8-8 Chargers hosting the 12-4 Colts (2nd best record in the NFL) while the 11-5 NEP sat it out (3 more wins than the Chargers)

Changing the system would make the divisional rivalries much less meaningful.  And the divisional rivalries are an important part of the fun.  

Yeah, I don't have a problem with it either, because I think it's a weird, rare case.  The salary cap helps with this, because teams get good or bad pretty quickly.  I could see where you might have dynasty situations otherwise, where a few good teams are in one division and one keeps getting screwed over and over.

Divisions make so many games more interesting and builds rivalries.  If that means that a 7-9 team makes the playoffs every 40 years, I'm okay with it.

[MikeO]

ESPN had some guy saying in the offseason the NFL will be discussing going to only 2 divisions and having the playoff seeds based totally on record in the future.

Obviously with fewer division champs, stuff like this won't ever happen again.

[fyo]

ESPN had some guy saying in the offseason the NFL will be discussing going to only 2 divisions and having the playoff seeds based totally on record in the future.

Obviously with fewer division champs, stuff like this won't ever happen again.

If you want to increase the number of franchises, the current 2x4x4 alignment has to go. Personally, I really like it, but it does limit the league to 32 teams (great number).

[Spider-Dan]

ESPN had some guy saying in the offseason the NFL will be discussing going to only 2 divisions and having the playoff seeds based totally on record in the future.

Yeah, they'll discuss it all right:

"Hey, do you think we should go to a 2-division format and wreck our perfectly formatted schedule?"
"No."
"OK, then."

[bsfins]

ESPN had some guy saying in the offseason the NFL will be discussing going to only 2 divisions and having the playoff seeds based totally on record in the future.

Obviously with fewer division champs, stuff like this won't ever happen again.

IMO "the guy" doesn't realize,it goes against one of the reasons for the current format,So you don't get "Well these teams have only played each other once in the past 10 years"....2 divisions means 16 out of the 18 game schedule goes to division games,that only leaves two "non divisional games"  and you go back to a long wait between playing every team in the league...

Fixed typo,made it tad bit more readable....for me atleast

[Pappy13]

Personally I don't have a problem with Seattle being in the playoffs.  What I DO have a problem with is them hosting a playoff game.  There's a pretty simple solution that is a bit of a compromise.

Shuffle the playoff positions once you get the teams.  Best record is #1 seed, worst record is #6 seed.  That way Seattle is still in the playoffs, but they are headed to New Orleans rather than hosting the game.

[Dave Gray]

^ I like it the way it is.

What's wrong with Seattle hosting a game?  They won their division.  It's pretty cut and dry.  If they're so bad, like everyone says, they'll lose anyway.